“This new [BlackBerry 10] platform has been in the works for years, an incredibly long development cycle in an industry known for rapid shifts and cutthroat competition,” Evan Niu reports for The Motley Fool. “RIM acquired QNX Software in April 2010, and management outlined its new platform that would be built on QNX in fiscal Q1 2011.”

“BlackBerry 10 has seen numerous development delays over the years, and the Z10 won’t be available in the important U.S. market until March (assuming there are no additional delays). That’s 21 months from when then co-CEO Mike Lazaridis first discussed the platform transition to when it will actually be available to U.S. consumers,” Niu reports. “Apple is rumored to be moving iPhone launches back to summer time frames and could potentially unveil an iPhone 5S and lower-cost iPhone as early as May.”

Niu reports, “Pricing may have also disappointed investors, as RIM is hoping to position the Z10 at the high-end of the market. The Z10 will retail for $200 on contract, and $600 unsubsidized, which are relatively standard price points for flagship devices. However, Apple still dominates the high-end smartphone market, comprising 74% of smartphone activations at AT&T and Verizon combined in the fourth quarter… The BlackBerry Z10 is going to go head-to-head with the cream of the smartphone crop in both pricing and availability, all at a time when RIM should be trying to steer clear of fights that it can’t win.”

Should I care what investors think anymore? They are also disappointed with Apple, the world’s most successful technology company. All Investors want to do now is play the stock market like a casino. It’s not about Investing as I understand it, i.e., supporting a company by buying its stock.

BOGO offerings are almost NEVER made by the handset makers. They are usually offered by the CARRIERS, who are struggling to move inventory.

Let us not forget, what ordinary consumer sees as a BOGO offer is actually a discount of only around 17% on two phones: full price of two Blackberries is $1,200; discounting this by $200 (which is what consumer is getting with the purported “BOGO”) makes consumer price for two devices $1,000 (over two years), which is $500 each — nowhere near ‘free’ for either of the two phones. But it certainly looks better to the consumer (and more desperate for the company to the rest of the market).

Last quarter IPhones were 84% of AT&T smart phone sales. With an 89% retention rate of customers do to Apples continuous improvement and product upgrades, the pickens the fight for the scraps will be meager. Samsung and Mole will rue the day!

The BB10 may be an excellent hardware device and the software may be pretty good…. The issue I am hearing is that there are no apps for it. Also, an update is due to allow it to run Android (Ugh!!) apps in the near future.

Pogue loves it and says it’s the first phone as good or better than the iPhone, so he says anyway. With others so quickly copying the iPhone, and the courts not much help, Apple needs to be rolling out some of that future Cook keeps saying they are inventing at One Infinity Loop.

Although certainly a risky proposition, Blackberry is moving in the right direction. Modernizing a platform takes time. BB10 and the devices that accompany it look like solid products. It’s up to Blackberry to evolve this quickly.

It reminds me of the original iMac. It sold enough to keep Apple’s cash-flow stable. It re-establishewd the brand as something that customers could get interested in.

Competition is a wonderful thing. I hope they have some success with this approach.

QNX is also designed for very complicated tasks. It has to be dumbed down to work in a cellphone or tablet.

Thinking that RIM/Blackberry is capable of all the needed fixes to QNX, when most of their engineers were running in the other direction, like rats escaping a sinking ship, looking for a job that would last more than 2 months, is shear lunacy.